


LGS: Essentially Ephemeral

by CactusGirl



Category: Original Work
Genre: Best Friends, Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 03:38:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7601914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CactusGirl/pseuds/CactusGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four friends have been dabbling in the world of the supernatural and magic for a few years. This time, they don't escape unscathed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	LGS: Essentially Ephemeral

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like you’re all following me for a game of what’s Kell-Going-To-Post Roulette. This is an original fic that started as a joke on twitter, but snowballed and it’s really my first attempt at an all lady original. I wrote it a couple of months ago. 
> 
> The characters are loosely based off a few writers you might know in the Brittana fandom. Full marks if you can accurately guess who is who! Featured: Me, gnome (Gorshenin), g0dblessthefandom, jerzeyredhead, and novaforever (aka she who makes all the super cool stickfigure animations). I’m posting it so they are forever immortalized as my characters! Yes, the four of them belong to me now! :D
> 
> Original. Rated T – Language, Violence, Supernatural Themes. One-Shot.

Laura readjusted her pack and pulled out a magnum flashlight. After a few whacks, it emitted a glorious amount of light. The single powerful ray blanketed the area in front of her and illuminated scenery that amounted to a typical night for their ragtag group of four. Broken chairs, dusty furniture, and a distinct smell that could only be described as “old”. Laura didn’t bother to contain the excitement in her eyes as she turned back to her friends with that familiar smile that meant trouble, adventure, and at least one near-death experience.  
  
“I've got a good feeling about this.”

As usual, Nat was the first to react. She groaned and cautiously stepped over the threshold of the store front, the first in a series along the abandoned strip mall.

“Laura, the last time you said that, nothing good happened! In fact, it was a really bad experience – like the worst. I say we all go back to the truck and head to a pizza joint, grab a slice, talk to some of the locals, and just relax. Then maybe after we're safe and we've had time to think about our life choices, we can reassess this whole LGS thing and if we really wanna check this place out.”

It was unclear if anyone else had heard Nat’s suggestion and clear discomfort of the situation, as no one quite responded. Erin had her headphones hooked around her neck and twirled around a knife in her hand. Every once in a while she nodded as if she were in agreement with Nat but Nat had a deep suspicion that if she asked Erin to repeat anything she said, she would get a blank stare in response. However, she offered two words of agreement to the conversation. “Pizza. Nice.”  
  
Nat knew it would be hopeless to rely on Erin for back up so she turned to her other friends, but Laura and Em were oblivious to Nat’s misgivings. They were several feet ahead of the entrance and already preoccupied with the condition of the abandoned store. Their heads were close together and despite their height difference and the contrast of Laura’s dark hair to Em’s long blonde hair, their fingers moved in sync through the air between them as if they we writing on the same whiteboard.  
  
If Nat truly wanted to give credence to magic, which she didn’t, she would have thought the way Em and Laura communicated was fueled by a psychic link.

“How many sightings have there been?” Em asked as she stepped over a fallen shelf with ease. She was tall and blonde and wore her weapon on her shoulder like an unspoken, but playful dare.

Laura, on the other hand, had always been short. She contrasted easily against Em as she always wore her dark hair in a ponytail. While Em tended to walk gracefully and carry a big stick, Laura’s lack of height made her quicker to actually outright dare anyone to mess with her. However, Laura had the softest spot in her heart for her friends and for hauntings.

Em’s question about the amount of supernatural activity only made Laura’s excitement grow. This was what she lived for and she was fortunate enough to have found friends who shared the same passion. She answered with the same business-like tone. “Five recorded in the past twenty years.”

Em frowned. “Not a lot.”

Laura quickly countered. “However, there are at least seven unexplained folk stories before formal investigations became a thing and it was rumored that the original strip mall construction started as a way to deter kids from coming into this part of the woods.”

“Sounds like it could be the place.” Em instantly perked up. “What kind of gear did you bring?”

“The standard stuff. My books, phone, my mothers’ charms, and the warding kit in case we've got to repel some nasties away. How bout you?”  
  
“Oh you know my favorites – Ms. Donna –“ She held up a vicious looking club that had a few sharp edges. “- my frequent bus pass, my running sneakers so I can fit a 15 mile run in sometime this weekend, and my cards.”  
  
“I brought a few extra flashlights after the last debacle.”  
  
“Good thinking. I don’t know why Erin and Nat thought they could just go into a cave without any gear like they were Lara Croft and somehow craft a torch.” Em took a flashlight from Laura and turned it over in her hand. “You think either one of them learned their lesson and actually brought anything useful this time?”  
  
“Erin and Nat?” Laura snorted. “Nat would bring 20 escape ropes if real life was actually like Pokemon. And I never know what Erin brings; at least we know that she brought one thing important this time.”  
  
Em rolled her eyes. “I don't get it. They are literally the worst supernatural fighters in the entire history of ghost fighting from our organization founder Queen Cleopatra to Lizzie Borden but whenever we don't bring them along we get our asses handed to us by supernatural baddies.”  
  
“100% makes no sense.” Laura agreed. “So this time we fix everything super-fast, keep Erin and Nat close, and hopefully we won’t run into our usual troubles. Then we get out of here and grab a celebration brew back at Red’s place.” She reopened her pack so she could pass flashlights to the rest of their group, but she paused. Something wasn't right. Laura’s stomach sank as she realized no one besides Em had said a word in several minutes. Laura let out a breathless. “Oh-no…”  
  
Em must have had the same feeling because she whipped around in a circle. She groaned and shone her flashlight at the entrance of the store, but it was too late. They were alone. “Shit.”

* * *

  
  
“Erin!” Nat pushed through some spider webs and even though nothing clung to her, she still made a face. “Erin! Slow down!”  
  
But no matter what Nat said, it seemed that Erin purposely ignored her. She remained completely preoccupied with that silly knife in her hand. It wouldn’t be the first time Erin hurt herself in the middle of a haunting or a hunt because she recklessly played with that thing. Nat didn't even know why Erin insisted on bringing it. The most use she ever had for it was when they needed to open a package at their hideout or to unstick the cassette player in Laura’s old truck.

Nat gave up trying to get Erin’s attention and was determined to catch up to her wandering friend.  
  
Erin hugged the walls of the building and squeezed through a literal hole in the wall that connected the adjacent store. Nat glanced around nervously. This was the exact opposite of what she wanted. She wanted pizza. She wanted safety. She wanted a _normal_ Friday night hang like normal people did. Instead, she had danger, abandon buildings, “ghosts”, and shit that she couldn’t explain.

Nat had long since developed the perfect coping mechanism for the strange things they had encountered – denial and repression.  
  
She knew she couldn’t complain too much about chasing ghosts and investigating the supernatural. Her sister said it was her fault anyway – hanging out with a bunch of crazy people. In a way, Nat knew it was true. No one in her family would ever get mixed up in this crap. They respected the supernatural. They respected it the hell away from their house and their lives. They couldn’t understand how Nat had gotten mixed up with it. Honestly, Nat had no idea how she ended up here either, but Laura, Em, and even the jackass in front of her, known as Erin, were her best friends. She just wished they could take up another hobby like knitting or video gaming or bowling instead of getting themselves in crazy trouble all the time. Hell! They should have started a blog or published fiction about the shit they had already seen.

“Nat?” Erin’s voice finally called out. “Nat, where are you?”  
  
“Yeah I'm coming! You need to stop wandering off. This is why Em and Laura don't trust us to do anything.” Nat reached the hole Erin had disappeared through.

“Finally!” The relief in Erin’s voice was obvious.

Nat rolled her eyes and huffed in mild exasperation. “If you would have waited for me there wouldn't have been a prob-” Her voice cut off and all the air in her lungs disappeared as she finally glanced to the reason why Erin’s had stopped. “-blem.”

“There you are…” Erin whispered, but it was obvious she wasn’t talking to Nat anymore.

At least…not in the traditional sense…

On the floor, in the middle of the broken store shelves and dusty boxes of cereal and books, was Nat. Her arms were spread out and her body levitated a half inch off the floor. Her eyes were closed and it was clear she was in fact – dead.

Nat’s gasp was audible – well it would have been audible if she were still alive. “That’s my body…that’s my body. That is MY body! Why am I looking at my body!?!”

“Hey Nat…” Erin said softly as if she were talking to a spooked animal or an irate woman. “I know if you could see yourself and the current situation you would probably be laughing and thinking about how hilarious this all is.”

“HILARIOUS!?” Nat tried to take a swing at Erin, but her arm went through her friend’s head. “I’m dead! And a ghost! And you think I would be laughing!? This is what my sister warned me about. Nat-“She imitated her sister’s voice. “-you best leave those white girls and their crazy ghostbuster shit alone! Oh my god was she right! I can’t believe I have to tell my sister she was right.”

Erin smiled softly and cautiously walked around the glowing markings that encircled Nat’s floating body. “You’d be laughing. It would be great. It’s almost like I can hear your laughter right now. I know because we’ve got that special connection between us.”

“Erin Reginald Terry! I am not laughing! And you know that’s not what I’m saying! When you die next, I’m going to kill you myself.”

“Erin!” A door at the far end of the store burst open. Em held Miss Donna in her hand. She had used the vicious looking club to beat down the weak part of the door. “I can’t believe you disappeared again! Laura told you to stay close and the first thing you do is wander off! Didn’t you learn after – oh shit – you found her.”

Laura’s excited smile turned to something of an intense stare as she pushed pass Em. She readjusted her ponytail and pulled out a book from her pack. The book was big enough that it shouldn’t have fit in the small backpack. There were a lot of things she kept in that pack that shouldn’t fit, yet her companions never questioned how Laura was able to stuff seemingly everything into it. They just accepted that it could, and did, fit anything and everything. Whenever Erin drank enough, she would tease Laura about the size of the bag and what all she could carry in there. Once, Erin tried to sneak a peek into the backpack. Laura instantly seized the bag and warned her that she might find more than she bargained for and she was the only person who should open it.

This time it was only a tome, one they had seen before.

“How long as she been levitating?”

“No idea. I found her right before you got here.”

“Tsssk. Nat’s gonna kill us…” Em offered as she leaned against the nearby wall. “You better work fast, Laura.”

“Hell yes I am!” Nat yelled even though none of them could hear her. “I cannot BELIEVE you two fuckers got me killed. You were supposed to be the responsible ones!”

“Honestly, I don’t think the situation is that bad.” Erin shrugged and flipped her knife in the air. Three sets of eyes turned as if they couldn’t believe she said that. “Fine. Fine. I guess it’s not the ideal situation since Nat’s dead and all.”

“She’s not dead.” Laura cut in. “Not entirely.”

“I better not be…” Nat went to cross the circle to see what Laura was reading in her book, but she seemed unable to move beyond the lines on the ground beneath her body.

“Laur- I know you always like to make the best out of all our situations, but Nat looks pretty dead from here.”

“She’s just a little separated.” Laura flipped through her book and pulled one of her mothers’ charms from her neck and let it dangle near the edge of the circle. “We were lucky we found her so quickly.”

Erin smirked and winked obnoxiously. “Not even hard. It’s cause Nat and I have this connection.”

Em scoffed. “This is the fifth place we searched on one of your ‘hunches.”’ She used bunny ears in the air to emphasize what she thought about Erin’s intuition.

“There was interference with the signal.”

“She’s not a radio that you tune into, Erin.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I can get more stations holding Miss Donna over my head than you can when you’re actually trying to communicate with the otherside.” Em brandished the club above her as demonstration.

“Hey friends, can we maybe stop bickering for a minute? We need to reestablish connection with Nat and draw her back to her body.”

“I’d love to go back.” Nat tried to enter the circle again, but the barrier remained. “Trust me, I’m trying!”

“Erin, did you bring the crystal like I asked you to?”

“Yeah of course I brought the crystal.” Erin padded around her jacket and flipped through her pockets before she extracted a lint covered necklace. It was dark and opaque, but otherwise unremarkable. “See? I gotchu, Laura.”

Laura continued reading. “And this is the crystal you were playing with when we were researching how to get that shadow to stop following Nat?”

“Yes. I promise.” Erin kept the crystal dangling between them.

“Okay.” Laura inhaled deeply. “According to my grimoire, we should be able to summon her spirit back into her body if we attach the crystal to her body.”

“Cool.” Erin reached across the threshold, but the moment the crystal neared the circle, the whole building started to shake. All four of them froze. “Shit. That was not my fault.”

“What are you three trying to do to me!?” Nat yelled. She couldn’t tell if her physical body, the building, or her spirit was shaking or if it was combination of all three. However, she knew it felt weird and she wasn’t about to be vibrated back from the dead.

“Laura, is it supposed to do that?”

“No idea, Em, this is my first body-spirit reconnection situation and my grimoire doesn’t cover it.”

“Ooooooh the grimoire doesn’t know something. That’s a first.” Erin teased.

“Hey! Leave my grimoire out of this!” Laura flipped through a few pages. “I have no idea what’s going to happen.”

“Nothing we can’t handle.” Em said with unwavering confidence, but to make her point clear, she twirled Miss Donna and loosened her vest pocket. A set of cards could be seen over the hem waiting to be pulled.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

Again, all three of them glanced to Erin in disbelief. It was already a pretty bad situation.

“Do it.” Em stated and adjusted her grip on Miss Donna. “Laura, I hope you’ve brought something a little heftier than your flashlight.”

Laura’s right hand rose and waved arcane symbols in the air above the grimoire. The charms around her neck danced, but the most notable change was when her eyes turned black. “Always.”

Erin flipped open the knife in her right hand. At the same time, she pushed the crystal necklace toward Nat’s floating body. The room shook and the light from Laura’s flashlight dimmed the closer the crystal came to Nat. The room rattled and the marks on the floor glowed with stronger intensity. Erin struggled against the invisible barrier until she finally pushed the necklace through it.

The moment the crystal cleared the markings, all the vibrations stilled; however, all the light in the abandoned building was gone. Erin blinked hard. The glowing marks in the ground brightened in intensity. “Are you sure about this?”

The lack of light and the supernatural glow from the markings only made Laura’s eyes seem darker.

Em answered for her. “Put the crystal around her neck now, Erin.”

Erin didn’t hesitate. She pushed the final way through the barrier and latched the necklace to Nat. The moment the crystal touched her skin, the glowing circle vanished and Nat’s levitating body dropped. A great wind flew through the room and knocked the three girls to the ground. Erin crawled over the debris and felt around to find a way back to her friend’s body. “Nat?”

“Laur, can you conjure some light or something?”

“You know it doesn’t work like that.”

“Fine, I’ll take care of it-“ A light flickered for a second where Em’s voice came from. That second of light revealed they were all in relatively the same place, but it further emphasized the lack of light. Em reached into her pocket and flipped another card from her vest pocket into the air and whispered. “-Light.”

The card combusted and lit for another second before it extinguished.

Laura questioned and reached around in the darkness to locate her bag. “What’s wrong with your magic cards, Em? Normally they can hold a light for hours…”

“I don’t-“ She flicked another one up. It instantly vanished as if someone had snatched it from Em’s hand. “-know.”

“Guys…” Erin’s voice was apprehensive. “I can’t find Nat and I don’t think we’re alone…” Erin felt the back of her neck tingling and her vision went blurry. They definitely weren’t alone. Whatever they did putting Nat’s spirit back in her body must have awoken whatever called this strip mall home. Danger. They were in a lot of danger. There was no time to wait for Laura to summon her mothers’ mothers’ mothers help or to consult the grimoire. They needed action now. Erin warned. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Scheisse!” A familiar voice shouted. “I hate it when she says that. It’s the only thing she’s ever right about. Speaking of…HOW DID YOU THREE KILL ME!?”

“Nat?” Erin called out. “You alive again? Yay!”

Laura shot back through the darkness. “She was never dead!”

“Nice to have you back, Nat. We missed you.” Em warned as the light flickered once more. “But our flashlights aren’t working, I’m running out of light cards, and Erin just said she has a bad feeling. So you know what that means…Let’s catch up after we get out of here.”

She drew another card from her vest pocket and invoked the magic in them through a few words. This time it lit for a second longer. All four girls were able to see each other and the broken store around them. As the card darkened, two glowing eyes remained. They hovered over Em’s shoulder.

“Em, whatever you do…don’t move…” Laura warned. She frantically reached around for her missing pack, but the danger lingering near Em was more pressing. She drew her hands up. The charms around her neck rose and started to dance.

“Laura? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Friend, please don’t move.”

“Umm hello? Should I not move or should I swing? What is happening!?” Em asked with only the slightest hint of panic in her voice.

All three of the girls shouted. “Swing!”

In the darkness, no one could see Miss Donna make a vicious arc through the air, but the air shifted the moment Em unleashed the brutal club. It hit nothing, but the air changed. There wasn’t just one set of glowing eyes, they were hundreds.

“Scheisse! Scheisse! Scheisse!” Nat started swearing with more enthusiasm. “Why are Erin’s bad feelings always right?”

“We’ve got to get out of here.” Em said quietly before she hissed. “Stay quiet, Nat, they haven’t attacked us yet.”

Nat struggled to whisper back. _“But what the fuck are they? And where the fuck is here? What is going on?”_

“I think we just awoke a shit ton of unsettled spirits.” Laura couldn’t consult with her grimoire in the dark and she still hadn’t located her pack. She enjoyed a certain amount of calmness in the face of the supernatural, but without her pack or tome, she also felt lost in the darkness. “Normally, I would be excited about a haunting, but I think we’re a little outnumbered. Erin, can you find the way out?”

“It’s really dark, Laura.”

“I’ve got one card left.” Em crouched down low and leaned toward where she knew the other three had been standing. “I’ll light it and we have to make a run for it.”

“Stay together and make it outside. We’ll regroup from there.” Laura found the strap of her pack and gripped it tight. “Now!”

Em threw her last Light card into the air. It flew up and illuminated the path to the hole in the wall. “Run!”

Erin reached through the dark and found Nat’s hand. She gave her friend a hard yank and headed for the hole. She scrambled over the fallen shelves and decaying cardboard storage boxes. They made it halfway to the exit when light vanished.

Total darkness.

Nat squeezed Erin’s hand, but neither of them heard or saw Laura or Em.

“Nat…I have a really bad feeling about this…”

“Erin, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you to never say those words bu-“

_WHOOSH_

A violent force blew through the strip mall. It ripped Nat right out of Erin’s hands and pulled her back into the darkness behind them.

“NAT!” Erin yelled, but only her voice echoed back. She was utterly alone.

* * *

 

In contrast, Em and Laura wished they would have been more alone. The moment the light from the card disappeared, a wall of apparitions cut them off from Nat and Erin. They rose up and created a barrier to their path forward.

“Laur –“ Em’s voice edged with a great deal of apprehension. “I’ve never seen spirits like this. I hope Erin and Nat are okay.”

Laura’s hands were already preparing for the worst. She drew symbols and started a ward of protection. “We have to trust they’ll get out.”

The charms around her neck floated and glowed as she finished the final symbol. It was too late. The unearthly spirits rushed forward. Ethereal wisps and whispers of human vestiges darted through the air at them. They appeared in and out of visibility. Their jaws dropped and their shrieks penetrated through Laura’s protections. She dropped to her knees and held her ears. A hand reached out toward her charms. The fingers curled and fizzled in and out of existence, but the nails looked as sharp as Erin’s knives. Laura’s eyes widened as she attempted to reestablish her warding spell, but another ghastly apparition, dripping ectoplasmic flesh drew face to face with her. Its eyes were haunting and hollow. Laura could feel all her will power fading rapidly as those lethal eyes held her gaze.

The claws wrapped around the leather tong of Laura’s bird charm and scratched at the gold medallion her grandmother had given her for her quinceanera.

She concentrated on the remaining charms, but she knew she could only last so long before she would succumb to the apparition’s dreadful stare.

“Laura!” Em swung Miss Donna through the face of the closest wraith.

While it didn’t make solid contact, the ghost dissipated. Laura blinked hard and finished the ward she had been invoking. The charms around her neck brightened and sent a wave of power through them and repelled the wraith hand reaching for her.

“Thanks for the assist.” Laura brushed herself off and shouldered her pack.

Despite dispatching two of their assailants, the room remained full of wraiths. They circled the air above them.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Em heaved Miss Donna over her shoulder and pressed her back into Laura. “We still have to get out of here. Stay together.”

Laura nodded and called on power from her charms. She held her grimoire in her left hand and started writing in the air with her other. A bright green shot of magic ripped from the pages of the grimoire and tore through three wraiths. Em swung her club at an advancing ghost and scattered its incorporeal form and then another and another. But no matter how many apparitions she hit with Miss Donna, more appeared.

Laura threw another blast of magical power from her grimoire and pushed back some of her hair that had fallen from her pony tail. She panted and squinted through the darkness, but they were completely separated and cut off from the exit.

“We’re not gonna make it out of here, Laura. We need to do something.” Em opened her vest pocket and whispered the words Banishment and Fire before she threw them into the fray. The cards combined in the air and created a fireball that exploded into a group of wraiths. Their ghostly bodies caught on fire and their screeches filled the old store as they ignited like old wallpaper until all that was left was a pile of ash.

“Use one of those again!”

“Can’t! Those were my last cards like that!” Em swung Miss Donna over Laura’s head. Sometimes the height difference between them did come in handy. A wraith brushed by with claws outstretched and ripped the shoulder of Em’s vest. Cards from her deck scattered to the floor. She saw a picture of an ocean shell on one of the cards. She kicked the card with her left foot and whispered. “Shell.” A barrier grew from the card and blocked the wraith from attacking her again. Em lined herself up and took a softball swing to the ghost’s head as it moved around the shell. “We can’t keep this up, Laur. We need an escape route or we’re gonna be as dead as these ghosts.”

Laura cast a circle of fire around the magic shell barrier to discourage the wraiths from going through or around it. She looked around. Em was right. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes and trusted her ancestors to protect her for a moment of thought. The charms around her neck swirled and created a tunnel of mystic wind around her body. She went through every option there was between the two of them, but there was only one sure method of escape.

She felt sick knowing it was the only way. Laura gripped her pack and opened her eyes.

“I have a way out.”

“Awesome! Let’s go!” Em swung into another wraith and threw a card that exploded into a shower of sparkles which were ineffective. “I’m getting down to my shitty common cards.”

“It’s not that simple…” Laura warned.

Em saw the worry in her friend’s face, but she also knew they were running out of time. “We don’t have any other choices, Laura.”

“You’re gonna have to trust me.” Laura unshouldered her pack and trusted Em to protect her if any wraiths came too close.

“I always do-“ Em’s jaw dropped as she realized what Laura was suggesting. “Oh shit…Are you sure?”

A moment later, they were gone.

* * *

 

“Erin? Em? Laura?”

Nat stumbled back into darkness.

Alone.

Silence.

After the powerful gust ripped her from Erin, Nat had been stumbling in the dark for what felt like hours. She couldn’t fathom how she had gotten in this predicament in the first place. The last thing she remembered was drinking at Red’s after another successful mission. They did some shots. They shot gunned a few beers. They sang a bunch of show tunes and played some drinking games. Red eventually kicked them downstairs to their makeshift base of operations.

A few more drinks and they were swapping stories and talking about pretty girls.

And…

Nat startled and clutched at her chest. Her heart raced and her palms were sweaty.

She didn’t know if it was possible, but she swore she saw a shadow move in the darkness. But it had to be impossible. It was too dark for shadows and too quiet for movement. Just like she knew ghosts weren’t real and that she hadn’t really been separated from her body. It could all be explained and when she got the fuck out of here, she was going to make Laura explain it.

The darkness shifted again and Nat jumped back.

But there was nothing.

“It’s nothing. There’s nothing. It’s not real.” Nat whispered and rubbed her arms. The temperature dropped several degrees. “It’s nothing. There’s nothing. It’s not real. It’s nothing. There’s nothing. It’s not real.”

Every time she repeated her mantra, it seemed further from the truth, but she kept saying the words and hoped the next time would make them real.

_“It’s nothing! Stop it! There’s nothing. It’s not even real!”_

_“What do you mean it’s nothing, Nat?” Laura’s face changed. It was all fun and games and drinking until Laura suspected there was supernatural activity behind something. This included, but was not limited to, things like the never-ending toothpaste in the tube, the tv channels not working, missing food from the hideout fridge, etc. Unfortunately, Nat could tell that this time, Laura was serious._

_Nat rolled her eyes. “It’s nothing. I just sometimes see a shadow in corner of my eye ever since we did that haunt in New England.”_

_Laura sounded offended. “And you didn’t think to tell us?”_

_“It could be anything.” Em suggested and flipped over a card from her deck. “Maybe an angry spirit or a leftover from that haunting. Oh! It could even be a guardian angel of some sort. Nat is unusually lucky.”_

_“Or maybe…” Erin chimed in. “…you finally got yourself a girlfriend.” She snickered into her glass of lager. “An invisible girlfriend!”_

_“Fuck you, Erin!” Nat threw a coaster in Erin’s direction. “I don’t even know why I mentioned it.”_

_Laura drunkenly stumbled to her pack and pulled out her grimoire. “Well no matter what it is. We should definitely research it!”_

_“Totally!” Em slid her deck of cards back into her vest pocket and plopped onto the couch near Laura. “Research time is the best time.”_

_“Only you fools would want to get drunk and research something that’s not even real.” Nat groaned. “Come on, Erin, time to put you to bed.”_

_But Erin was already half asleep and leaned against the side of the couch. Nat rolled her eyes and gave up. They were hopeless. The last thing she remembered was a necklace in Erin’s hand, but she ignored it and threw a blanket over her sleeping friend before she curled up on the remaining sofa and fell asleep._

And then she remembered Laura, Em, and Erin talking about this old strip mall. There was nothing between falling asleep and this creepy haunted place with her separated spirit and floating body except…

…the necklace.

It might have been pitch black, but Nat could feel the necklace around her neck. It wasn’t heavy, but it was cold and foreign. It settled against her skin and hummed against her chest. Nat looked down. Despite the darkness, the crystal seemed to shimmer just slightly. It was the only thing she could see; maybe it was the only thing keeping her from her friends.

The shadows shifted again.

Nat sucked in a deep breath. Fuck whatever Laura said about being separated from her body; she wasn’t going to die a second time today.

She gripped the crystal and ripped it over her head. The moment the necklace released from her fingers and hit the floor, Nat watched her body collapse next to the dark crystal.

“What the fuck!? Why does this keep happening to me?”

“It because you’re still separated, Nat. The crystal is a temporary fix.” Laura’s voice coaxed from the darkness.

“Laura?” Nat jumped a foot in the air and actually remained there. She still wasn’t used to being a “spirit” or whatever she was. “If I’m still separated, how the hell can you hear me?”

She whispered. “I can hear you because we’re on the same plane.”

A small light illuminated not far from where Nat floated over her body. Laura’s eyes were dark, almost black, and she seemed to emit a blueish light around her face. Nat thought she looked eerie and almost unnatural. Nat fidgeted when she noticed Laura seemed nervous. With a great deal of trepidation, Nat glanced to where Laura’s eyes were drawn and almost died for real.

Shadows no longer existed in her periphery, but they were everywhere and circling her body. Nat’s mouth dropped, but Laura quickly shushed her.

Nat snapped her mouth shut as instructed, but pointed emphatically down at her body and the dark shadows circling like birds.

Laura nodded just as emphatically back to Nat to show she understood her friend’s alarm, but she didn’t say another word. Instead, she mimed putting the necklace back on and pointed at Nat.

Nat frowned and showed Laura her empty hands. They both looked down at the ground below. The dark crystal was right next to her body.

Laura lifted one finger, two fingers, and on the third finger, Nat shot down into the swarm of shadows. At the same time, Laura released some sort of lightball that exploded over Nat’s body. The shadows scattered right as Nat reached for the necklace. She thought maybe she would phase through it like when she had tried to hit Erin, but the moment her fingers connected with the smooth stone, it was like a rush of hot air entered her lungs. She opened her eyes and she was back in her body.

“Holy shit, Laura, that was insa-“

And as soon as the danger passed, everything went black and she was gone.

* * *

 

“Erin!”

Erin startled so hard at the sound of her name that she dropped her knife and cut open her palm. “Ouch! Crap!” She tried catching it with her other hand and nicked her finger before she finally picked it off the floor. “Oh! Hey, Laura! What’s up?”

“What’s up? That’s all you have to say? Where have you been?” Laura turned the corner and continued chastising Erin while glancing around like something could pop up at any moment. “Are you okay? Is there anything attacking you?”

“You said to go through the hole. So I’m did, but there was nothing over here. I tried going back, but I couldn’t see anything in there so I’ve been waiting for you guys. What took you so long? Is everyone okay?”

Laura didn’t know how she, Em, and Nat almost died and the closest Erin had come to danger was accidently not catching her knife and cutting her palm open. How did Erin always seem to be danger adjacent but never actually in it? It was a mystery Laura hadn’t solved yet.

“They will be. Come on…we’re getting out of here.”

“I already told you, Laura, everything’s blocking the exits and doorways. I walked around and there’s no way out.”

“We’re not going that way.” Laura unstrapped her pack and opened the mouth before she looked back up to Erin. “Get in.”

Erin’s eyes grew as wide as pack. “Seriously? This is everything I ever wanted, Laura! I can’t believe this is happening! I don’t want Nat to die every day, but if this is what happens, sign me up! I will kill her myself!”

“Stop fooling around and for the last time, Nat didn’t die!” Laura urged her friend and threw her a strip of medical cloth. “And tie your hand up before you get in. No blood allowed.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Erin wrapped her hand and practically skipped to the pack. “I can do that. You can 1000% trust me.”

“Now listen to me very carefully, Erin. Once you’re in there, you have to stay close to me. I already got Nat and Em out of here through the pack with no problems.”

Erin nodded at every word, but she was far too distracted. She couldn’t believe she was finally going inside Laura’s magic bag. “I’m ready!”

“No!”

Erin jumped head first and disappeared into the pack.

“Damnit, Erin!”

Laura jumped in after her.

The pack closed and collapsed in on itself until there was nothing left except shadows.

* * *

 

“So…” Nat’s voice was a strange mix of calm and anxious. As if she couldn’t believe what had just occurred. She wasn’t alone. Em, Laura, and Erin all sat around the various couches and chairs in the basement of Red’s bar and looked as if they had been through hell and back. “When are you three going to explain to me why I have to wear this necklace or my body and spirit disconnect!?”

Em rolled her head back and groaned. “What just happened?”

“What the fuuuuucccccccck?” Erin’s eyes were wide and glazed over.

“Okay, so this is my theory.” Laura seemed to be the only one alert and coping well.

“Theory?” Nat groaned and glared at the necklace around her neck. “This better be good.”

“When you were sleeping, Em and I were researching spirits, the kind that attach to someone. So we were reading through a couple of passages in my grimoire and doing a couple of tests to see if there actually was a spirit attached to you. Well whatever we read doing the tests, it must have triggered that necklace Erin found and interacted with whatever spirit attached itself to you.”

Nat narrowed her eyes, but when Laura didn’t continue with the explanation, she threw her hands in the air. “That’s the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard! If this was a story, there would be all sorts of plot holes. None of that makes sense!”

“No! But it does! When the necklace disconnected you from your body, it also transported you to the last place its power was evoked. I think that’s what all those spirits were who attacked us when we reconnected you. They were the previous victims of its curse. Clearly they weren’t reconnected with their bodies in time.”

“You cursed me!?”

Em flipped Miss Donna in the air and inspected her weapon for any damage. “I don’t know why you’re so upset, Nat. Most of us are cursed or tied to the supernatural in some way. Now it’s like you’re part of the club.”

“No. No. No. I was already part of the club! I was in charge of music selection, sometimes I drove the truck, I found the best places to eat on road trips, and I liked to remind everyone to be safe and not do crazy things. That was my role in the LGS club! I was totally part of the club before! I didn’t need to be anymore part of the club! I was good with the basic membership! If anyone was supposed to be cursed, why couldn’t it have been Erin?!”

Em sort of shrugged. “I mean she’s kinda already a little cursed. Right? It would explain a lot.”

Erin tried to defend herself, but she was too occupied looking at her bloody hands and Laura’s pack to really put up a fight. “Hey…”

Laura tried to placate her friend’s anxiety. “Nat, we’re going to figure out a way that you don’t need the necklace to stay corporeal. We just need some more research.”

Finally, Erin waved her hands in the air. “WAIT! Can we just talk about Laura’s bag! We went through a portal in Laura’s bag and no one is at least curious!? We. Went. Through. A. Bag. Portal! Why is no one freaking out like I am!?”

Laura turned a bit red and ducked her head as if she was embarrassed by the observation and Erin’s reaction to her pack.

Em seemed unperturbed. It had been an unspoken rule in their group to keep Erin out of as much as possible. “Erin…don’t be upset, but we kinda all knew about it.”

“You knew about it!? And you didn’t tell me!?” Erin whipped around to face Nat. “Et tu, Nat-e?”

Nat cringed at the betrayal on her friend’s face and at how dramatic Erin could be. “I mean like I had a suspicion. I didn’t know for sure what Laura’s pack did. I certainly didn’t expect it to be a portal through the void. Sorry, Erin, but don’t act like this is the worst thing that’s happened all day. You did separate me from my body! I am the victim here!”

“We didn’t tell you because we figured you’d jump into the pack and it’s dangerous in there.” Laura explained. “And we weren’t wrong. You did jump in and you were bleeding. Something could have followed you through the portal.”

“Wait. You’re saying Erin could have brought something back with her?” Nat immediately became defensive. She was done with the supernatural for a very long time.

“We should be fine-“

“I don’t know…I have a bad-“

All three of the girls turned to Erin and felt their stomachs drop. They didn’t want her to complete her sentence. They knew what it meant.

But it was too late.

The door to their hideout slammed open.

Em immediately jumped up and brandished Miss Donna. Laura raised her grimoire and grasped onto her charms. Nat and Erin fell over their chairs and backed up from the door; however, Nat kept a possessive hold over her mysterious necklace. She didn’t feel like splitting from her body again.

They expected ghosts, wraiths, spirits, but what walked through the door was much worse. A woman with hair as fiery as her personality and armed with a double barreled shot gun huffed in the entrance. Her eyes held more stories than she could weave in a lifetime but unfortunately, she didn’t look willing to share any stories with them tonight.

She looked pissed.

“Red! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Em lowered Miss Donna and looked around.

“You just about gave me one! All of the alarms went off upstairs!” The barkeeper had no time for pleasantries or small talk. “I can't believe you brought your LBS back to my bar! This is my home! Do you know how hard it is moving this place around? I have a very specific aesthetic and the amount of time I spend researching a new bar takes about as long as some of you are old.”

“Red, you seriously don’t spend twenty-six years researching for your next bar.” Em did the calculations out loud. “In just the past eight years, you moved the bar twice.”

“I wouldn’t have moved it at all if I had a choice.” Red ruffled at being called out. “And for your information, research starts a long time before I make a move. I’ve known about this place since you were in diapers.”

Em accepted Red’s answer. Knowing her, she wasn’t lying. “Well whatever, Red. Sorry we came back a little hot, but it’s LGS, not LBS.”

“Oh I know what the letters are but my version is a little more accurate to what you really are: Largely Bull Shit.”

All four girls grew indignant and immediately jumped to correct her.

Em snorted. “Red, you know it means Legendary Ghost Slayers.”

Nat was right behind her. “I thought we talked about rebranding and going with something a little more modern and friendly to our target audience like Lady Ghost Squad.”

Laura shook her head. “But that sounds too informal, Nat, like we aren't legit or we are a cosplay group for Ghostbusters. It should be Legally (insured) Ghost Sleuths. We show off that we are competent business women who mean supernatural business. That way people take us seriously.”

Em shook her head. “That makes us sound like we're a Nancy Drew spin-off instead of a proud tradition of paranormal hunters. We should stick to tradition – Legendary Ghost Slayers.”

Erin looked around the group befuddled. “Wait…LGS doesn’t stand for Ladies Get (you) Some? That’s what I’ve been telling all the hotties at the bar.”

“It’s a wonder you haven’t all fallen inside Laura’s pack and been trapped forever.”

“You knew about the portal pack too?! Was I the only one who didn’t know!?”

“You didn’t take Erin through the portal did you, Laura?”

“We had no choice.”

Red sucked against her teeth and made an apprehensive noise. “No wonder my alarms went off. What did you four bring back to my bar? Where’s my phone?” The barkeeper started to root around her pockets.

Em didn’t understand Red’s alarm. She had a predisposition for the supernatural because of her long lineage. They should have been in the clear. “What’s wrong? Who you gonna call?”

“Ghostbu-!”

Nat clamped a hand down so fast over Erin’s mouth and just silently shook her head.

“Gonna call my wife and tell her to close the bar.”

The lights flickered and the temperature in the room dropped drastically until they could see their breath.

“Too late, Red.” Laura observed. “It’s okay, friends, I believe in us completely. We can fight whatever came thro-“

A terrible whistling ripped through the room. Papers, furniture, and objects flew through the air and crashed into the walls. The wind increased in speed and velocity until the noise conjoined and created something of howling. Everyone covered their ears, but the sound was permeable and filled every inch of their body. All five of the women dropped to their knees and tried to protect themselves.

Laura yelled as loudly as she could. “Csangium!”

“What?” Em gripped onto Miss Donna, but could barely keep her eyes open from the pain.

The light in the basement hideout dimmed to the point where it was hard to see a few feet in front of them. It was just like the strip mall.

Nat swallowed hard and glanced around. The closest person was Erin, but she seemed unconcerned with anything happening. In fact, her eyes were open and glossed over.

“Erin! Erin!” It was hard to yell, but Nat knew Erin should have heard her. “Guys! Something’s wrong with Erin!”

Red struggled against the door. The wind and the howling pushed against her body and tried to lift her from the room. Laura and Em noticed Erin and frowned to each other.

“Erin!” Nat tried again, but a shadow on the far side of the room caught her eye. A terrible shiver went down her back and she forgot about her friend. The necklace around her neck felt heavy. Her mouth dried and her hands started shaking, but no matter where she looked around the room, the shadow remained.

“Csangium!” Laura yelled again and pointed at Erin. “Blood hounds! They came through the portal! They followed Erin’s blood!”

If Erin knew what was going on, she seemed unable to move. Her eyes were affixed to the ceiling and she lifted her hand up. The blood that she had poorly covered before going through the portal ran over her palm in thick lines down her wrist.

Red pressed her shoulder into the door frame for leverage, raised her shotgun, and aimed directly for Erin. The howling wind picked up in intensity.

“Get her knife! Stop her bleeding or they won’t stop coming! I’ll try to make a ward.” Laura pointed to Erin’s knife on the ground next to her kneeling body. She closed her eyes and immediately the charms around her neck lifted into the air. They touched each other with light clinks as if they were creating music. Even with her eyes closed, Laura continued to direct their group. “Nat! Can you get the knife? Nat!”

Nat knew people were talking to her, but the shadow continued to creep closer to her. Her hand fidgeted as she wondered if she should remove the necklace. The shadow shifted and took form and then dissipated around Erin’s body. The lack of reaction from anyone else in the room meant only Nat could see it. She swallowed hard and gripped the necklace harder.

Red shot her shotgun and hit something solid right in front of Erin. A small whimper joined the howls, but it wasn’t enough to deter them. Em saw that Nat seemed almost as paralyzed as Erin. She didn’t wait. She used Miss Donna to push herself off the floor and run to Erin. Another gun shot that was entirely too close echoed in the room, but Em ignored it and gripped the knife next to Erin. She lifted it and drew one of the cards from her deck and shouted, “Fire!” The card burst into flames. Em shoved it against the knife until the metal glowed red hot. “Sorry, Erin.” She said right before she shoved the hot knife against her friend’s hand.

Maybe it was a blessing that Erin was still dazed because she barely flinched at the searing metal against her flesh. It sealed her wound, but Laura yelled that it wasn’t enough. Em ripped a piece of her shirt off and wiped the blood from Erin’s wound. Laura pulled open the mouth of her pack. Em tossed the blood soaked rag through the portal. The howling paused for a moment and a gust of wind followed the bloody rag back into the unknown. Laura closed the pack tight and let out a ragged sigh.

Erin collapsed into Em’s arms, but seemed mostly unaffected by the ordeal. “Erin, are you okay?” Erin remained unresponsive, however, she was breathing and appeared to be okay.

“Holy shit on a shingle! Damn kids and their LBS!” Red shook her head and reloaded her shotgun. “You know I’m going to have to charge you extra this month for bringing demon blood hounds home with you.”

Em smirked. “Put it on our tab.”

“Yeah, yeah. That and the hundred other things you owe me.” Red shouldered her shotgun. “When you’re ready to celebrate barely surviving another haunt, come upstairs and the first round is on me.”

“Thanks, Red, and sorry about –“

“Eh. This will make a great story.” Red shrugged with her signature smile. “I’ll see you all up top for that beer.”

“Make it two.” Erin groaned and held up four fingers.

“If you make it upstairs, Erin, you’ll get my wife and she’ll give you water and advil and you’ll thank her.”

Erin gave a weak salute. “Yes, ma’am!”

“I see…” Em playfully pushed at her friend. “You don’t get up when I’m talking to you, but you miraculously recover when Red is giving out free beer.”

“Priorities, Em, priorities.” Erin groaned and held up her hand. Her palm now bore a nasty red line and she imagined in a few minutes that weird tingling feeling would turn to throbbing and pain. Maybe she would go visit Red’s wife; she was the town nurse.

Laura stopped laughing as she remembered the one with the loudest laugh and the biggest smile in their group had been strangely quiet. “Nat?”

Nat shook her head as if she had just returned from a trip through the portal pack. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“Of course I am!” Nat smiled back, but didn’t take her hand off the necklace.

“What happened to you?”

Nat shrugged and plopped back on the couch next to Em and Erin. “No idea! It was like I saw everything that was happening, but I couldn’t move a muscle.”

Em patted Nat’s leg. “Happens to the best of us. Just glad you’re okay.”

“Honestly I blame this idiot.” Nat whacked the back of Erin’s head and produced an ouch. “You were going to sacrifice yourself to some crazy wind dogs? What the hell were you thinking?”

Laura was already nose deep in her grimoire and reading from the passage. “It wasn’t necessarily Erin’s fault. Apparently when their target hears their howls, they become paralyzed. It’s a good thing we were here. There aren’t many survivors of a Csangium attack as they prey on the weak and wounded. That was a good move by Em to close your hand up so fast.”

“Well now it hurts.” Erin rubbed at her palm and hissed. “A lot.”

“Could have been worse!” Nat swatted her head again. “Stop playing with your knives and this wouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’m just glad we’re all okay now and we got Nat back.” Em said and leaned her head back against the couch in exhaustion.

“Me too.” Laura agreed, but she was still leafing through her grimoire. “However, this reminds me of a haunting that I heard about in Montana.”

“We are _not_ going on another haunting!” Nat threw one of the couch pillows at Laura. “I need at least a century to recover from this one.”

“Why?” Em asked. “We all made it out.”

“I guess you’re right.” Nat said with a shrug. She touched the necklace around her neck and focused on the shadow she saw in the corner of the room. Even after the Csangium had been sent away, it remained. Its presence was both familiar and unsettling at the same time and she didn’t know why she didn’t share knowledge of the shadow with her friends even though she knew she should. Nat slowly released the necklace and while the shadow disappeared, she knew only a touch would bring it back. She focused back on the conversation with a smile. “It was pretty much easy mode, but maybe we should give Erin a day to recover before we go driving off again.”

“Fair enough, but I’m putting it on the board!” Laura stood up and started writing the location on the white board. “Awesome! I got a good feeling about this one!”

**End!**

 


End file.
